TV Ratings

Past biathlon season brought not only 28 podiums to the Russian team, but also noticeably increased TV ratings of biathlon. Specially for Biathlonrus.com Pavel Kopachev noticed how the main winter sport competed successfully with football and hockey for the past four months. 

Biathlon TV ratings in Russia grew almost by 30 percent comparing to the last season. Figures of the season 2011/2012 were the best during the past six years. Audience’s interest as well as visits of the internet pages is directly related to successful performance of the Russian team, which had 28 podiums in the past season. For the full TV triumph we probably lacked just a crowned world championship.

2,2 is an average rating of the season. The world cups in Antholz and Holmenkollen (2,6) and the world championship in Ruhpolding (4,6) had the best ratings. The men’s pursuit race in Ruhpolding (4,6) was the most popular race of the season and was translated by the First Chanel.

Without Eurosport. Important remark: average biathlon ratings do not count the Eurosport’s indicators, which broadcasted all races of the world cup. This means that the final figures could be higher.

TV ratings of the world cup

Season-2006/07 – 8,5 / 2

Season -2007/08 – 8,2 / 1,9

Season -2008/09 – 7,5 / 1,9

Season -2009/10 – 6,9 / 1,8

Season -2010/11 – 5,9 / 1,6

Season -2011/12 - 7,8 / 2,2

Ruhpolding > Khanty-Mansiysk. This year’s tournament was more popular than the last year’s despite the fact that both of the world champions – 2011 and 2012 – were unlucky for the Russian national team. Rating grew by 0,6. Figures do not lie. The most successful championship (Ostersund 2008, 11 medals) had the record audience, and the most scandalous one (Pyeongchang-2009, doping scandal) – was just a little bit behind and was followed by a logical decline.

TV rating of the world championships

Antholz-2007 – 9,3 / 2,2

Ostersund-2008 – 15,6 / 3,8

Pyeongchang -2009 – 18,1 / 3,5

Khanty-Mansiysk-2011 – 11,1 / 2,2

Ruhpoldging-2012 — 9,5 / 2,8

Competition against football. Average rating, which is a key indicator of the TNS’s research, is keeping biathlon among the headliners of the winter sports. Online translations of the world cups and world championships had lower ratings only than the football euro cups, but consistently outperformed matches of the Russian and English premier leagues.

World cup 2011/2012

1^st cup (Ostersund) – 4,8 / 1,4

The most popular race: women’s pursuit (1 December) – 5,8 / 1,6

2^nd cup (Hochfilzen) – 6,6 / 1,8

The most popular race: women’s relay эстафета (11 December) – 8,5 / 2,6

3^rd cup (Hochfilzen) – 8,6 / 2,2

The most popular race: mixed relay (18 December, Russia – 1^st place) – 10,2 / 3,2

4^th cup (Oberhof) – 6,5 / 2,3

The most popular race: men’s mass-start (8 January) – 7,6 / 2,6

5^th cup (Nove Mesto) – 8,7 / 2,4

The most popular race: men’s pursuit (15 January) – 9,1 / 3

6^th cup (Antholz) – 9,4 / 2,6

The most popular race: men’s relay (22 January) – 9,5 / 3,3

7^th cup (Holmenkollen) – 8,5 / 2,6

The most popular race: men’s mass-start (5 February) – 8,7 / 3

8^th cup (Kontiolahti) – 9,2 / 2,3

The most popular race: women’s pursuit (12 February) – 10 / 2,8

9^th cup (Khanty-Mansiysk) – 7,5 / 1,8

The most popular race: women’s pursuit  (17 March) – 8,5 / 2,2

 

For the past two years the main winter sport had the higher ratings only at the Olympics 2010. Here is a list of the top-5 Vancouver’s races:

Men’s relay (First Channel) – 25,5 / 7,1

Women’s relay (Russia 1) – 25,1 / 6,9

Women’s pursuit (First Channel) – 16,9 / 6,4

Women’s individual race (First Channel) – 17,2 / 6,4

Men’s mass-start (First Channel) – 14,8 / 5,2

 

World championship 2012

Women’s relay, 10 March (First Channel) – 12,1 / 4,1

Mixed relay, 1 March (First Channel) – 13 / 3,7

Men’s relay, 9 March (Russia 2) – 9,6 / 3,1

Men’s sprint, 3 March (First Channel) – 11,3 / 2,9

Women’s mass-start, 11 March (Russia 2) – 7,4 / 2,5

Women’s pursuit, 4 March (Russia 2) – 7 / 2,5

Women’s individual race, 7 March (Russia 2) – 8 / 2,2

Men’s mass-start, 11 March (Russia 2) – 7 / 2

Men’s individual race, 6 March (Russia 2) – 7 / 1,9

Women’s sprint, 3 March (Russia 2) – 5,5 / 1,8

Men’s pursuit, 4 March (First Channel) – 17,1 / 1,3

 

Russia versus Germany. Russian ratings are high, but stably lower than German (appx by three times). Our audience has not reached 100 mln yet, and in Germany (excluding Olympic season) it is higher than 200 mln.

More than milliard. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which counts ratings of all the on-lines, replays and biathlon TV–shows, has not provided the IBU with the data of the year 2012. But we can assume (especially taking into account the dynamics of the past years) that the total amount of viewers has overgrew 1 mlrd people in season. In the season 2011 the audience has increased by 100 mln people.